In the prior art, a digital photograph or video was recorded by a dedicated device, such as a digital camera or digital video camera. The digital images were stored on a memory card, which allowed the digital image to be transferred to a computer or other electronic device. If one wanted to project the digital image (such as a photograph, movie, slide presentation, etc.), onto a screen or wall for an audience, the computer containing the digital image would require connection to a stand-alone projector. The prior art stand-alone projectors are generally large, noisy and consume power such that they must be plugged into an external power source and are not capable of operating via their own internal power source for any reasonable length of time. Further, the prior art stand alone projectors must be manually focused to obtain a sharp image depending on the distance from the projector to the surface where the image is being projected.
Also in the prior art, a camera with an on-board projector includes a projector that uses liquid crystal technology, where the entire image or each frame of successive images are projected all at once. The power consumption of these cameras is such that battery life of the camera is unacceptably low. Further, such prior art cameras suffer from the fact that the projected image must be focused and re-focused depending on the distance from the camera to the surface on which the image is projected. Having to constantly refocus the projected image creates a large inconvenience for a user of such a portable device. Still further, liquid crystal projectors are generally not bright enough to be used in full daylight. Therefore, a user is limited in the usefulness of a portable liquid crystal projector.
There is a need, not met in the prior art, of a portable, hand-held, power-efficient device that both captures digital images and is capable of projecting the in focus digital images on any surface at any distance independent of any focusing requirements.
Elements in the Figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the Figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Furthermore, the terms “first”, “second”, and the like herein, if any, are used inter alia for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequential or chronological order. Moreover, the terms “front”, “back”, “top”, “bottom”, “over”, “under”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, and the like in the Description and/or in the Claims, if any, are generally employed for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for comprehensively describing exclusive relative position. Any of the preceding terms so used may be interchanged under appropriate circumstances such that various embodiments of the invention described herein may be capable of operation in other configurations and/or orientations than those explicitly illustrated or otherwise described.